By admin 
A native of Compton who I met last year took her first college class years before she ever set foot on a college campus. That’s because she attended a high school connected to Compton College through a dual enrollment program that created a pathway into college.
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Such programs are at the center of California’s Black-Serving Institution (BSI) designation. Under this policy, enacted last year, colleges qualify as a BSI by enrolling at least 10% Black students (or 1,500 Black students). They must also show measurable progress in completion, graduation, transfer and student success over a five-year period.
Now, a new dashboard developed by researchers at the University of Southern California makes it possible to determine whether that promise is becoming progress. The California Black-Serving Institution Dashboard tracks outcomes across all 31 designated institutions, which collectively enroll nearly 44,000 Black students, about 28% of California’s Black college population. Both Sacramento State and UC Davis are Black-Serving Institutions.
Its baseline findings reveal the distance still to travel. At designated community colleges, 21% of Black students complete within eight years, compared with 41% of students overall. At the six designated four-year universities — three CSU campuses, two UC campuses and Loyola Marymount University — 59% of Black students graduate within six years, compared with 71% of students at those same institutions.
The dashboard gives California something higher education policy often lacks: a public way to determine whether recognition is followed by measurable progress. Such transparency is essential, but data alone can’t close these gaps. Lawmakers must give institutions the resources to improve the outcomes the dashboard will now track.
In a recent analysis in The Black Policy Review at the University of Chicago, I also found that Black completion gaps persist even within Minority-Serving Institutions (colleges and universities that enroll substantial populations of students from historically underserved and ethnic groups). These gaps reflect not student ability, but whether institutions are designed to support them.
Black student outcomes are shaped by racism and bullying in schools, disproportionate punishment, limited access to Black teachers and under-resourced schools struggling to provide academic support. Those inequities do not disappear when students arrive at college. They shape academic preparation, financial stability, sense of belonging and institutional barriers.
At the same time, institutions that do the heavy lifting by educating millions of Black and Latino students are competing for shrinking sources of federal support. Just over the last few months, the Trump administration has moved to redirect nearly $900 million in education funding that Congress targeted toward Minority-Serving Institutions into broader programs with different priorities.
The Compton student I spoke with participated in a dual program — just one example of efforts already working and replicable, if funding is made available. Under Compton College President and CEO Keith Curry, the college has spent more than a decade building a system connecting basic needs support, advising and guided pathways. Students can access food programs, childcare and healthcare alongside academic advising that keeps them on track.
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In turn, the college has produced stronger completion outcomes. According to federal data, the college outperformed six similar schools on several student success measures, including a higher combined graduation and transfer-out rate for full-time students than peer institutions.
These results show what becomes possible when colleges build systems that support students from enrollment through completion.
The benefits extend beyond students or colleges. When students complete their degrees, transfer and connect to the workforce, the state benefits through higher earnings, more tax revenue and reduced reliance on social services.
The Compton student is now completing her degree at a prestigious UC campus and plans to return to serve her community. Her story reflects what happens when institutions support students from the start.
California has built a way to recognize institutions serving Black students. USC has now built a way to measure their progress. The next test is whether lawmakers will act on what the data reveal.
Recognition can signal what matters, and accountability can show whether conditions are improving. The future of Black student success will depend on whether California is willing to fund the progress it can now measure.
Anthony Hernandez is a faculty member in the Department of Educational Policy Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Hernandez’s recent analysis of Black-Serving Institutions appeared in the University of Chicago Black Policy Review.
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